Clinical Trials Update: July 18, 2008 (HealthDay)

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesyof CenterWatch:

If you experience bloating, gas, irritable bowl syndrome, skin infections, vaginal infections or diarrhea, you will want to read more about probiotics calcium supplements the benefits of taking a probiotic supplement every day.

Probiotics are live microorganisms - bacteria in most cases - that are similar to beneficial microorganisms in your stomach. They are also referred to as "friendly bacteria" or "good bacteria". Probiotic bacterial cultures assist your body's naturally occurring gut flora to reestablish themselves.

Ideally, the microflora colony in the digestive tract should be made up of 85 percent friendly bacteria to 15 percent harmful bacteria. This balance is affected by the use of antibiotics, oral contraceptives, steroids, exposure to radiation (X-rays and radiation therapies), consumption of chlorinated water, refined sugars and other refined foods, and by poor digestion, poor elimination of waste, stress and an unhealthy diet.

When the balance of good and bad bacteria is adversely altered, your body becomes overloaded with toxins, which causes chronic diseases and illnesses. Taking a probiotic supplement and eating foods that include probiotics will help buffer your stomach acid and intestinal bile, increasing the chance of good bacteria surviving.

Benefits of probiotics:

• Improve digestion of food
• Enhance absorption of vitamins
• Produce enzymes
• Increase availability of vitamins and nutrients, especially Vitamin B, Vitamin K, lactase, fatty acids and calcium
• Help kill viruses and parasites
• Increase resistance to infection
• Inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria
• Regulate pH value by producing lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide. Increase the acidity of intestine (lower pH value) and inhibit reproduction of many harmful bacteria and yeasts

Probiotics treat the following:

• Infectious diarrhea and traveler's diarrhea
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Vaginal infections
• Skin infections
• Tooth decay
• Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that causes most ulcers and chronic stomach inflammation
• Reduce symptoms of lactose intolerance
• Reduce cholesterol levels when high

Foods containing probiotics:

• Yogurt*
• Fermented and unfermented milk
• Miso
• Tempeh
• Sauerkraut
• Some juices and soy beverages

*Not all yogurt contains active bacterial culture. L acidophilus, L bulgaricus and S thermophilus are the most common bacterial strains added in yogurt. These bacteria are on the ingredient list. More labels are stating "live cultures" or "active cultures", which you want to look for. Avoid yogurt that is heat treated after culturing. This means the added bacteria was pasteurized, which can destroy live cultures.

Why you need probiotics:

• Drinking chlorinated water destroys your intestinal flora
• Farm animals are fed antibiotics to keep diseases down. When you eat meat, you take in these antibiotics
• When the ratio of good bacteria to bad is lowered, problems begin to arise such as excessive gas, bloating, constipation, intestinal toxicity and poor absorption of nutrients
• Alcoholic beverages kill probiotics, encouraging harmful bacteria and yeast overgrowth
• The use of antibiotics directly kills all bacteria in your intestinal tract. That is why probiotics is recommended while taking antibiotics
• Birth control pills and many other drugs cause damage to the intestinal flora and to the tissue in the intestinal wall

How to choose probiotics:

You do not need a prescription to take probiotics, as they are available in grocery stores and health food stores. Taking probiotics when your body does not actually need them won't cause you any harm.

Consider the following when looking for a probiotic:

• The type of bacteria, including the genus and species
• The potency or number of bacteria per dose
• The purity
• Natrol BioBeads is one of the most effective probiotic acidophilus on the market. It doesn't have to be refrigerated and only needs to be taken once a day

Start by taking at least 1-10 billion viable L. acidophilus or B. bifidum cells daily divided into 3 or 4 doses. Take them on an empty stomach or at least 30-60 minutes before eating. Take 15-20 billion viable organisms daily to prevent diarrhea from antibiotics.

Maintaining proper pH balance within the gastrointestinal tract is critical to probiotic growth and health. The pH inside the small intestine should be slightly alkaline (7.5-8.0) and the colon should be slightly acidic (6.0-6.8). Without the correct pH, probiotics won't function properly. In order to achieve and maintain pH balance, it is important to eat the appropriate foods.

Having an over acidic body (pH below 7.0) can cause disease. Click here to read what foods are high in acid.

Learn what foods balance your pH level. Click here.

Click on this link to learn how depression is linked to food choices.

California fines two health plans $13 million - Los Angeles Times

California fines two health plans $13 million Los Angeles Times - 3 hours ago Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield also agree to restore coverage to patients whose coverage was canceled after they became ill. By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield -- two of the state's biggest health plans ... 2 health insurers to pay $13M to Calif. regulators The Associated Press California fines Blue Shield and Anthem Blue Cross San Francisco Chronicle FOXBusiness - WBOC TV 16 - Sacramento Bee - Reuters all 329 news articles

Affordable health insurance rate: There are tips that will help you get serious savings without putting yourself at risk. Would you like to know them? If so, these suggestions will go a long way in helping you achieve just that...

1. For those who have a pre-existing condition that makes it hard or too expensive for them to enjoy private personal health insurance coverage, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) insurance could provide a cheaper option.

2. If you take alcoholic beverage your rates will be higher than another profile that doesn't. Taking alcoholic beverages makes you a bad risk and therefore gets you higher rates. Many ailments can be traced to drinking.

What quantity of alcohol is safe for you? I cannot advise you on that since I'm not an expert on such matters. What I'm sure of is that avoiding drinking completely is very safe. So you can reduce your rates (Apart from reducing the risk of developing certain health conditions) by staying away from alcohol if you can or drinking in real moderation if you can't.

It's just that for most people drinking in moderation is even more difficult than staying away completely. You can be assisted if you really want to stop drinking.

3. How much can you contribute to payments for seeing a doctor? This is known as your co-pay. The higher your co-pay, the more affordable your rates will be. If you rarely ever need to visit a doctor, you buy bulk taurine make much savings by choosing a high co-pay.

4. If you want a discount, get your health insurance policy from the same insurer you bought existing policies from. Insurance companies offer a multi-policy discount to persuade you to buy other policies from them.

In spite of the fact that you can save a lot with a multi-policy discount, you may get a better deal by buying your various policies from different insurers.

5. Smokers pay rates that are double or more that of non-smokers. It's not disputable that smoking is the highest known cause of cancer and other killer diseases.

This increases their risk to an insurance company and so raises their rates considerably. If you can quit smoking you'll get rates that are dramatically cheaper when you reapply after 12 months.

6. You will save much if you will shop around and do thorough comparison. The difference in quotes returned for a query could be as wide as $1,000 for a particular profile. Notwithstanding that this is a good thing, it's important that you don't get too excited yet. It's not usually that straightforward if you want the best price/value.

The cheapest price may not represent you the best price/value. Although each of the quotes returned will definitely give you the same basic coverage, there may be a lot of differences in the details of each insurer's coverage. This makes it important that you find out if there aren't any exclusions you won't like.

Don't forget to treat these no-obligation quotes just that way. Don't feel obliged to pay unless you've had all your questions answered to your satisfaction. You will prevent rude shocks later if you do this.

Here are great pages for health insurance quotes...

InsureMe Health Insurance Quotes

Health Insurance Quotes

Chimezirim Odimba writes on insurance.